Abdulla Goran (d. 1962) was an eminent promoter of, and contributor to, the modernization of Kurdish poetry. In his own time, Goran was hailed by many contemporary writers, critics, and poets as the leader of this endeavor. While describing his project in modernizing Kurdish poetic forms, for instance, Goran mentions only two achievements, both of them on the grounds that they were motivated by a patriotic sentiment: the replacement of classical quantitative meters with syllabic meters, and the “purification” of the language from non-Kurdish loanwords. However, we know that Goran was not the first modernist to dabble in syllabic meters or to attempt to “purify” the language of poetry. This chapter focuses on the main reasons for his immediate popularity. It argues, first, that, unlike many of his peers, Goran publicly identified as a modernist from the outset; that he greatly contributed to the expansion of Kurdish poetic forms and the promotion of Kurdish free verse; and that he played a major role in the internationalization of modern Kurdish poetry.